


In Your Eyes

by Baph, SchalaDresdan



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: 18OI AU Week 2019: Day 5, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Heterochromia, M/M, Miscommunication, post banquet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2020-04-11 12:39:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19109854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baph/pseuds/Baph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SchalaDresdan/pseuds/SchalaDresdan
Summary: Heterochromia. Everyone in the world is born with it. Two eyes that are different colors, even if the difference is slight. The right eye is the person's natural color, and the left is the same color of your soulmate's. Once you touch, your left eye reverts to its natural color.After the Sochi GPF Banquet, Yuuri woke with no memories of the night before, and two brown eyes...





	1. Yuuri

**Author's Note:**

> Heterochromia. Everyone in the world is born with it. Two eyes that are different colors, even if the difference is slight. The right eye is the person's natural color, and the left is the same color of your soulmate's. Once you touch, your left eye reverts to its natural color.
> 
> Schala wrote the fic, and Baph made art for this first chapter! I am so grateful that Baph liked my story well enough to make art for it. Please go and tell Baph how much you liked it on Tumblr [here!](https://anonbaph.tumblr.com/post/185429972704/)

The Morning After the Sochi GPF Banquet

A loud, jarring alarm pierced the quiet of the hotel room. Yuuri started awake, and moaned in pain. He fumbled for his phone, desperate to turn off the alarm blaring in his ears. The harsh noise sent lances of pain through his skull. He managed to stop the noise and groaned as he slowly sat up.

He covered his eyes with his hands, attempting to block the morning light filtering through the curtains and into the room. _What happened last night? I must have drank too much champagne at the banquet. I don’t remember a thing…_

Yuuri forced himself to get out of bed and move towards the bathroom. _I should take some aspirin, and drink some water. I need this hangover to go away before I get on a plane in a few hours…_

His train of thought came to a screeching halt as he caught sight of himself in the bathroom mirror. Yuuri blinked slowly. He rested his hand just below his left eye and stared in disbelief.

His left eye, which had been blue since birth, was now the same warm brown color as his right.

Yuuri felt tears forming behind his eyes. _My eyes match…_

_I met my soulmate last night._

_And I was so drunk that I can’t even remember… What’s wrong with me?_

Yuuri felt his legs give out from under him. He sat down hard on the cold tile of the bathroom floor. The tears fell freely from his eyes, his breath coming in harsh gasps. Yuuri sobbed uncontrollably, curled up on the bathroom floor, miserable and alone.

 _This has been the worst week of my life. First, Mari called and told me that…_ Yuuri couldn’t even finish the thought, the pain still too new, too sharp in his mind. Grief and guilt formed a heavy lump in his throat.

Yuuri squeezed his eyes shut and pushed the heels of his hands against them. It did nothing to stop the flow of tears from his eyes. _And then, I screwed up my free program. It has never been_ **_that_ ** _bad before._

_I finally got the chance to skate on the same ice as my idol, and I screwed up so badly that he didn’t even know that I was a fellow competitor. He thought I was a fan…_

The memory of his one and only interaction with Victor Nikiforov still stung. Yuuri played back the scene in his mind. He made eye contact with Victor. For a moment, Yuuri fantasised, as he had for years, that Victor’s blue eye was a match for his own. That they were soulmates.

And then the moment when the fantasy was broken, when Victor looked straight at Yuuri and asked if he wanted a commemorative photo...

_Of course Victor’s soulmate wouldn’t be someone like me. That would be ridiculous. It is just a coincidence that his left eye is brown. And mine is… was…_

Yuuri’s tears, which has slowed somewhat, restarted in earnest. _What the Hell happened at the banquet? Why did I drink so much? And why can’t I remember who my soulmate is?_

Yuuri pulled his knees up into his chest. _What am I going to do?_

***

A Few Hours Later

Yuuri met Coach Celestino in the lobby of the hotel. He had his sunglasses on instead of his normal glasses. Celestino looked at Yuuri, his eyebrow raised in question. Yuuri sighed heavily and said. “I have a hangover. Too much champagne at the banquet…”

Celestino nodded. “Okay, Yuuri. Come, let’s go home.” _Poor guy, first his dog died, and then that disaster of a free skate. I don’t blame him for drinking a little too much at the banquet. Hopefully he'll feel better once we get started home._

Yuuri left his sunglasses on as they made their way to the airport and checked into their flight. He only took them off briefly in security. The security agent checking his ID looked at Yuuri in surprise as he glanced down at Yuuri’s passport picture. Yuuri said quietly, “It just happened, I haven’t had time to get a new ID made…”

The agent nodded as he handed back Yuuri’s passport. He shrugged. “It happens more often than you’d think. Congratulations.”

Yuuri mumbled a quiet “thank you” as he took his passport from the agent. He fought against the tears that were threatening behind his eyes. _I don’t feel like this is something I should be congratulated for. I don’t even know who they are! Or why they didn’t want to stay with me…_

Yuuri slipped the sunglasses back onto his face and followed Celestino to their gate. _I can’t let Celestino know. Not yet. I’m too embarrassed. I know… I know that he would be happy for me, but how could I explain to him that I have no idea who my soulmate is?_

***

The Next Day

Yuuri sighed in relief as he closed the door of his apartment behind him. He sank to the floor in the entranceway and pulled his shoes off of his feet. Yuuri mumbled out quietly, “Tadaima.”

A door opened down the short hallway. Yuuri winced. _I had hoped that Phichit wasn’t home, but I guess that was too much to ask…_

Phichit bounced excitedly down the hallway. “Yuuri! You’re home!”

Phichit stopped dead in the doorway. He narrowed his eyes briefly as he studied Yuuri’s face. Then he let out a high pitched squeal of delight as he ran towards Yuuri, falling to his knees and skidding to a stop in front of him. Phichit wrapped Yuuri up in a rib crushing hug.

“ _Yuuri! I can’t believe it! You found your soulmate!?!”_

Yuuri winced as Phichit yelled directly into his ear. Phichit continued excitedly, “Tell me all about him. It is a him, right? I can’t imagine that your soulmate is a girl, not after all of those years of you pining over Victor Nikiforov… _Oh my God..._ Victor’s left eye is brown, right? Is Victor your soulmate? Please tell me that Victor is your soulmate…”

Yuuri looked down, away from Phichit. He said quietly, “Victor isn’t my soulmate… How could he be? I told you what happened.”

Phichit rocked back on his heels. _Yuuri looks miserable. What happened?_

“Yuuri, who is it?”

Yuuri shook his head, tears falling from his eyes. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

Yuuri used his arm to dash away the tears falling from his eyes. He said angrily, “I mean, I don’t know who my soulmate is! I was drunk…”

Phichit gasped. “Oh, no… Yuuri. It’s okay. We can figure this out. Who was at the banquet? Skaters, coaches, sponsors…”

Yuuri mumbled, “Wait staff, hotel staff, photographers… It could be anybody. Blue is not that uncommon of an eye color in Russia. _And_ there were a lot of foreigners in Sochi for the competition.”

Phichit tapped his finger against his mouth. “Someone _had_ to have seen something. We’ll just have to ask around a little bit. I’ll see what I can find out, okay? You just concentrate on your national competition. That’s coming up soon, right?”

Yuuri nodded. “In a few weeks.” _But right now, I feel like I should just stay here. Why bother when everything in my life seems to be falling apart?_

***

A Few Weeks Later

Yuuri quietly closed the door to the apartment. His shoulders sagged as he toed off his shoes. He shed his coat and dropped it and his bag on the floor. Yuuri left his suitcase by the door as he walked slowly towards the couch.

Yuuri sat down heavily, his shaking hands coming up to hide his face. He tried to take deep, even breaths, in a vain attempt to keep his emotions at bay. Tears welled in his eyes as his breathing became more shallow and irregular.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. Phichit said calmly, “What do you need?”

Yuuri moaned pitifully. “A new life?”

Phichit sighed. “Yuuri. So you had a bad day.”

“More than just one.”

Phichit waved his hand dismissively. “Okay, a bad month. Let’s break it down, shall we?”

Yuuri groaned. “I’d rather we didn’t…”

Phichit ignored Yuuri’s weak protest. “Everyone has bad days on the ice, Yuuri.”

“Victor doesn’t.”

Phichit scowled. “I bet Victor’s sister has never called him right before the free program and told him that his dog died, either.”

 _I mean, seriously. Why couldn’t she have waited until_ ** _after_** _the Grand Prix Final was over? There wasn’t anything that Yuuri could do at that point, anyway. And I know for a fact_ _that it is what set off this whole series of unfortunate events for Yuuri._

Yuuri sighed. “No, I guess not. But that doesn’t excuse my terrible performance at Nationals.”

“After what happened at Sochi, I’m not surprised.”

Yuuri looked at Phichit, a look of shock and betrayal on his face.

“Don’t look at me like that! I didn’t mean it _that_ way. I just meant that you have had a lot on your mind, is all.”

Yuuri nodded sadly. “I still don’t remember anything, Phichit. And no one has really put any pictures up online. Not even Christophe, and usually he floods Instagram with banquet pics.”

Phichit sighed. “I know. I’ve been checking, too.” Phichit sat up excitedly, “Speaking of Insta, did you see Victor’s newest post?”

“No? I’ve been on a plane since yesterday.”

Phichit grinned as he unlocked his phone and started up the app. “He posted a selfie with his gold medal from the Russian Nationals. I think you might be interested in seeing it…”

Phichit held out the phone towards Yuuri. Victor was smiling and holding up the gold medal so it could be seen in the shot. Yuuri gasped.

“Both of his eyes are blue now…”

Phichit nodded excitedly. “And he still had one brown eye when you saw him in Sochi, right?”

Yuuri nodded slowly.

“The rumors say that he’s had blue eyes since he returned to Saint Petersburg.”

Yuuri groaned as he ran his hand down his face. “We’ve been through this, Phichit. Victor is _not_ my soulmate. He _can’t_ be.”

“Why not?”

Yuuri sighed, exasperated. “For the same reason that your green eye doesn’t mean that you’re destined to be with Christophe. Because things don’t turn out that way. Real life is not a fairy tale.”

Phichit sighed. “Yuuri…”

Yuuri hung his head, tears falling freely from his eyes. He shook his head slowly. “No, Phichit. Please, just stop. Victor isn’t my soulmate. And… whoever it is, didn’t want me. I’ll never find out who it was…”

_I’ll always be alone…_

Phichit winced. “I’m sure that they had their reasons. Are you sure that they didn’t leave you anything? No note, nothing?”

“We’ve been through this. There was nothing in the hotel room. Nothing on my phone. Whoever it is, they didn’t leave a trace.”

_They didn’t want me to be able to find them._

Phichit gathered Yuuri into a comforting embrace. “Then it is their loss.”

Yuuri sniffled, his tears falling unchecked onto Phichit’s shoulder. Phichit rubbed comforting circles on Yuuri’s back until his crying ceased. Exhausted, Yuuri fell into an uneasy sleep. Phichit carefully laid him out on the couch and covered him with a blanket. He carefully removed Yuuri’s glasses and set them on the coffee table. Phichit sighed as he walked over to the light switch.

_I don’t know who your soulmate is, Yuuri. I wish I did, so that I could go give them a piece of my mind. As if things weren’t tough enough for you right now…_

_In a way, I wish that Victor really was your soulmate. At least he would have had a valid reason for not staying with you. Even though he could have at least left you a note or something…_

Phichit turned off the lights in the living room before moving quietly down the hallway towards his bedroom. _Tomorrow is another day. Hopefully Yuuri will feel better once he gets out on the ice…_

 

__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the art of Yuuri and Phichit talking on the couch. It turned out so well, and I love the way that Phichit's green eye pops in the picture. Again, I am so happy that Baph decided to make this art for my story. Please tell Baph how wonderful it is on Tumblr. [Here](https://anonbaph.tumblr.com/post/185429972704/) is a direct link to the art.
> 
> And that is Day 5 in the bag! Tomorrow, look forward to an Otayuri story for the Shop AU prompt: "Java Overture".
> 
> There will be a Chapter 2, from Victor's POV, coming soon.


	2. Victor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, this story was only going to be two chapters, but I decided that we need one more chapter to wrap it all up.
> 
> And also: Fanart! Giogiostar made art of Yuuri pre-Sochi, when he still had two different colored eyes. You can see it [here!](https://writing-eros.tumblr.com/post/187935344675/inspired-by-a-very-beautiful-au-from)

The Morning After the Sochi GPF Banquet

A loud banging startled Victor awake. Yakov’s voice was still loud despite being muffled by the door. “Vitya, wake up! We have a flight to catch.”

Victor groaned as he sat up on the bed. He blinked slowly.  _ What time is it? Much too early for this, I’m sure. _

Victor moved towards the edge of the bed and stood slowly, stretching out his body. He stifled a yawn with his hand as he walked towards the door. As he unlocked it, Victor said, “I have something important to tell you, Yakov.”

Yakov growled out, “Whatever it is, I’m sure it can wait until we’re on our way…” 

As Victor opened the door, Yakov trailed off in mid-sentence as he took in Victor’s appearance. He sighed and said simply, “Who?”

“Yuuri Katsuki.”

Yakov nodded as he pushed his way past Victor and into the room. “The Japanese skater. It could be worse… Do you two have a plan yet?”

Victor shook his head. “We didn’t really have time. He had a flight to catch this morning. But I gave him my number.”

Yakov sighed as he sat down on the bed. “We’ll have to come up with a plan to deal with the press. I assume that the two of you don’t want this made public yet.”

“Yuuri seems fairly private, so I think that might be for the best.”

“Wear your sunglasses in public for now. Hopefully no one will notice, and it will buy us some time until Nationals.”

Victor nodded. “Thanks, Yakov.”

Yakov stood and started making his way towards the door. “Be in the lobby, ready to leave, in an hour. And, Vitya? Congratulations.”

***

A Week Later 

Victor pushed off slowly from the wall, sighing as he moved to the center of the ice. He lowered his head and brought his arms up into the opening pose of  _ Stammi Vicino _ . He took a deep breath and started moving through the complicated routine, pouring his emotions out onto the ice.

Yuri leaned back against the boards and made a loud gagging noise. “What the Hell is wrong with him? Is he really that upset that what’s-his-name still hasn’t called his ass?”

Mila shook her head. “Yuri, you don’t get it. It’s his  _ soulmate _ .  _ Of course  _ he’s upset. I would be, too.”

Georgi sighed as he leaned over the boards, next to Yuri. “I just don’t get it. I’ve met Katsuki before. He seemed shy, but I didn’t think that he would be capable of this. Finding his soulmate, and then not even bothering to call him?”

“Well, I met him too. And he seemed like a pain in the ass to me.” Yuri pushed off of the boards, making his way to the far side of the rink.

Mila shook her head. “There has to be a reason that Yuuri hasn’t contacted Victor. I just can’t figure out what it could possibly be. Has anyone checked his social media?”

“It’s non-existent. Or it might as well be.” Victor said as he skated closer to the boards. “I’ve been checking his Instagram account every day.”  _ At least three times a day, if I’m being completely honest. _

“But he’s not posted anything for months.”

_ Why? Why hasn’t he tried to contact me? Did I do something wrong? Does he not want me? _

Georgi shook his head. “It doesn’t make any sense. Victor, are you  _ sure _ that you gave him your number?”

Victor sighed, exasperated. “Yes, I’m sure! I put it into his phone myself.”

Georgi shrugged. “Then I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe he’s busy getting ready for his national competition?”

Victor ran his hand through his hair. “Maybe… it’s at the same time as the Russian Nationals, more or less.”

Mila said, “And he didn’t do well at the Grand Prix Final. He might be trying to concentrate on fixing his Free Program.”

Victor bit his bottom lip.  _ I’ve seen videos of his Free Program. Before the Final, it was fine. Something had to have happened. I wish that he would reach out to me. I want to help. _

_ I want him to be close to me.  _

***

A Few Weeks Later  
The Russian Nationals

Victor steeled himself as he prepared to leave his hotel room.  _ This is it. The first time that I have appeared in public, without sunglasses, since Sochi. Now the whole world will know that Victor Nikiforov has found his soulmate. _

_ And his soulmate doesn’t want him.  _

Victor tried to keep his face neutral as the thought hit him.  _ I just don’t understand. It has been almost a month since Sochi, and I haven’t heard from him at all. He’s not posted anything on social media, either. Even his rinkmate, Phichit Chulanont, is unusually quiet.  _

_ I don’t know what else to do… _

Yakov was waiting for Victor in the elevator bay on the ground floor. Yakov asked, “Ready, Vitya?”

Victor nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Are you sure you want to keep his identity a secret?”

Victor nodded.  _ He doesn’t want me. I don’t… I can’t force him by outing him to the media. _

Yakov sighed. “All right. Don’t worry about the media. I’ll keep them at bay. I want you to concentrate on winning gold.”

Victor smiled wanly. “Thank you, Yakov.”

***

A Few Days Later

Victor smiled his fake media smile as the flashes of cameras blinded his eyes. He held up the gold medal that was hanging around his neck.  _ Another gold. It feels so meaningless.  _

_ At least now I will be able to see Yuuri at Worlds. _

_ I wonder how his competition is going? I’m sure he’s fine, right? He’s Japan’s top skater, the only one that they had in the Grand Prix this year. I’m sure he’ll win gold. _

A hand on his shoulder brought Victor back out of his thoughts. Georgi said, “Victor, it’s time for the interviews.”

Victor nodded and stepped down off of the podium. He sighed as he followed along behind Georgi. 

Georgi said, “You were thinking about him again, weren’t you?”

Victor nodded. “Yes.”

Georgi sighed. “This is so romantic.”

“Is it? I barely know him.”

Georgi turned back to look at Victor, nearly running into the bronze medalist in front of him. “But he’s your soulmate!”

“And he doesn’t want me.”

Yakov growled at both of them as they stepped off the ice. “If you two don’t shut up, the media going to figure out the truth whether you like it or not!”

Georgi muttered a quiet “sorry” as he continued down the hall to the press room. Yakov waited for Victor to step off of the ice. He put his hand on Victor’s shoulder, stopping him for a moment.

“We were able to put off questions about your soulmate until after the competition. Are you ready?”

Victor shook his head. “Not really. But do I have a choice?”

“No, you don’t. Remember, just tell them that your soulmate wants to stay out of the public eye and prefers to stay anonymous. They won’t like it, but if you stick with that answer, there’s nothing that they can do.”

Victor nodded.  _ There’s no evidence of Yuuri and I ever being together, except at the banquet. And what happens at the banquet stays there. That is why the media is never invited… _

_ If Yuuri doesn’t want me, there’s nothing tying me to him. He can have a clean break. _

Victor took a deep breath and squared his shoulders.  _ I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. _

He carefully schooled his face into its press smile. Victor opened the door leading in the press room. The noise of the cameras and the clamoring reporters assaulted his ears as he strode into the room. 

_ I can do this. I can lie to the press about my soulmate. _

A reporter asked above the din, “Victor! Both of your eyes are blue. When did this happen? Who is your soulmate?”

***

The Following Day

Victor sighed as he laid across the bed.  _ Gala practice seemed longer today than normal.  _

He pulled out his phone.  _ I found that live feed of the All-Japan competition last night. I can watch Yuuri compete. _

_ It doesn’t look like he did well with his Short Program. I’m surprised, after how well he did with it at Sochi. Is there something wrong with him? _

Victor searched through photos from the competition.  _ He looks… upset. Not hurt, or sick. But like something might be bothering him? _

_ And I bet the press is hounding him, too. About his brown eyes. _

An alarm blared loudly from Victor’s phone, reminding him that it was time to turn on the live feed. He clicked the link and waited as it connected. The black screen lit up. The final warm-up group was on the ice. Victor immediately picked out Yuuri in his blue costume.

Victor smiled despite himself.  _ Yuuri…  _

Yuuri sped up for a jump. Victor hissed in a breath as Yuuri launched off the ice.  _ He went into that jump wrong… _

Yuuri fell to the ice. He pursed his lips as he picked himself back up and made a few more laps around the rink. 

Then time was called on warm-up and Yuuri was left on the ice by himself, as the first person in the group.

Victor bit his bottom lip.  _ I have a feeling that this isn’t going to go well… _

Victor steeled himself for the worst as the music began. He winced as Yuuri popped his first jump.  _ That was supposed to be an easy triple. And he popped it? _

The program went downhill from there. Yuuri fell on the only quad in the program, and popped several more jumps. He fell to his knees after the music stopped, and hit the ice with his fist in frustration. Victor gasped as he saw the score. 

_ There’s no way that he’ll medal with a score like that. His season is over. _

_ I won’t get to see him at Worlds… _

Victor’s eyes widened in shock.  _ What am I going to do? I have to see him…  _

_ I have to know, does he want me? Or not? _

_ Rejection would be better than this. _

Victor set his lips into a thin line as he pulled up his contacts, He punched the call button next to Yakov’s name. As soon as the man picked up, Victor said, “I know that you’re not going to like this, but I need to go to Detroit. As soon as possible.”

***

A Few Days Later

Victor walked into the unfamiliar rink, his hands shaking with trepidation.  _ This is a bad idea. I should just leave now, right? I could just leave. He would never even know that I had been here. And that way, he won’t have to reject me in person… _

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, forcing his erratically beating heart to calm.  _ No, I need to know. If he rejects me, so be it. _

_ At least I’ll know, and I can try to move on. _

Victor flashed his media smile at the girl behind the counter, gaining access to the rink despite it being closed to the public. He walked back towards the rink, keeping his breathing steady in a desperate attempt to stay calm.

He pushed the doors of the rink open. He could hear the distinct sound of skates on ice. Victor smiled as he walked in, breathing in the familiar cold air.  _ No matter where in the world it is, an ice rink always feels like home… _

Victor scanned the rink. His eyes lit up as soon as he saw him. Yuuri was on the far side of the rink, slowly skating figures. Victor ran up to the boards. He grabbed the top of the boards with both hands and yelled out, “YUURI!”

Yuuri turned to look towards the boards. Victor could see him squinting, trying to make out who was yelling at him. For a moment, Yuuri didn’t respond. As he skated closer to the boards, his eyes went wide in recognition. “V… Victor?”


	3. Mending What's Broken

Yuuri folded up his glasses and set them gently on the boards next to his water bottle. He sighed dejectedly as he stepped out onto the ice.

_ I need to decide what I’m going to do. About my career. About my soulmate. About a lot of things. _

Yuuri moved to the far side of the rink and began moving his body slowly through the familiar, comforting figures he had been practicing since he was a child. He could feel his body starting to relax as it slowly warmed up.

“YUURI!”

A familiar voice shouting his name startled him. He turned to look back towards the boards, squinting hard in an attempt to see the person standing there.

_ It almost sounds like Victor Nikiforov… but that would be impossible. Why would he be here? And why would he want to talk to me? He doesn’t even know who I am… _

Yuuri skated towards the boards. His eyes widened in surprise as the figure came into focus.  _ It… it can’t be, right?  _

“V… Victor… Nikiforov…? What are you doing here?”

_ And why are you looking for me? _

Victor sighed and ran his hand through his hair, momentarily pushing his bangs back. Yuuri’s heart skipped a beat as his left eye was momentarily exposed.  _ It really is blue now. He found his soulmate. It’s one thing to see a picture, to hear the rumors. But to see it in person…  _

Victor smiled and scratched his cheek nervously. “Well, you never called me.”

Yuuri jerked back suddenly, causing him to fall backwards onto the ice. He hissed through his teeth as he hit the ice, pain flaring up from his tailbone. Yuuri winced as he looked up at Victor. “Huh?” 

Victor stepped carefully out onto the ice and stopped next to Yuuri. His eyes were filled with concern. “Are you okay?”

Yuuri nodded numbly. “Yea… But what do you mean I didn’t call?”

_ I don’t have Victor’s number. That would be ridiculous. Why would he give his number to a dime-a-dozen skater like me? _

Victor held out his hand and helped Yuuri up. He asked, “Don’t you remember? I gave you my number at the banquet.”

Yuuri swallowed hard, his hands shaking. “You… you did?”

Victor nodded emphatically. “Yes, just after we…”

Yuuri went pale, interrupting Victor in his panic. “After we what? Oh, God, whatever I did, I’m so sorry. I… when I drink, I… God…”

Yuuri’s breath came in quick, shallow gasps as his thoughts began to spiral.  _ What the Hell did I do? How much of a fool did I make of myself? It must have been bad… like really bad… if Victor came all this way to talk to me about it. _

_ God, did I confess to him? Did we… did I sleep with him?!? _

Victor sighed. _ It looks like this might be worse than I thought. Does he think I’m upset about something? He seems to think he did something wrong.  _

“How much of the banquet do you remember, Yuuri?”

Yuuri shrugged as he made his way off of the ice, clipping his skate guards into place as he stepped off. “Um, I remember drinking a lot of champagne… And then waking up the next morning.”

_ With two brown eyes and no memory of what happened.  _ Yuuri’s eyes went wide.  _ No, don’t tell me… I mean I always dreamed about it, but it can’t be real, right? _

“Don’t tell me that we… That we’re…”

Victor smiled. “Soulmates?”

Yuuri swallowed dryly and nodded.

_ How can this be possible? How can I be soulmates with  _ **_the_ ** _ Victor Nikiforov?!? Stuff like this just doesn’t happen… _

Yuuri’s chest felt tight. He struggled to fill his lungs. His vision started to get dark. He sat down hard on a nearby bench, his hand clutched tightly in his shirt, right above his heart.

“Yuuri, are you okay?”

“C… can’t breathe…”

Yuuri clenched his eyes tightly shut, but he could feel the hot tears forcing themselves out of his eyes as he struggled to breathe. 

Victor’s heart pounded painfully in his chest.  _ What do I do? I don’t… I don’t know how to help him… _

Yuuri’s breathing became more shallow, and more desperate. He felt as if there was a thick curtain covering him and blocking him from the rest of the world. He leaned forward, resting his head on his knees.

And the next thing he knew, he was lying on the floor. There were several people hovering around him, including Celestino and Phichit. Yuuri asked tentatively, “What happened?”

Phichit kneeled down close to his head. “You had a panic attack and passed out? Scared us half to death.”

Yuuri sighed. “I… I’m sorry… I don’t really feel well… And I had this really weird dream when I was out, I guess? Maybe I should go home…”

Phichit tilted his head in question. “A dream? This isn’t the first time you’ve passed out on me, Yuuri. But you’ve never mentioned dreaming while you were out before.”

Yuuri covered his eyes with his arm, to hide the tears that were forming. “I know… But I dreamed that Victor came here, and he was my soulmate? Ridiculous, right?”

Phichit touched Yuuri’s arm, prompting him to move it. “Yuuri. It wasn’t.”

“Huh?”

“It’s not ridiculous, and it wasn’t a dream. Victor did come. He’s sitting over there, crying his eyes out, cause he thinks he killed you or something.” 

Yuuri sat up slowly and looked in the direction that Phichit was pointing. Victor had his head buried in his hands. It was obvious, even from this distance, that he was sobbing uncontrollably.

“How long was I out?”

Phichit shrugged. “Fifteen minutes? Give or take? If you didn’t wake soon, Ciao Ciao was gonna call an ambulance.”

Yuuri swallowed nervously. “And, how long has Victor been like that?”

“He started crying when you passed out and he couldn’t wake you up.”

Yuuri moaned loudly. “Oh… God…”  _ I really screwed this up. Victor isn’t going to want to be with a loser like me. I’m just… me. And he’s Victor Nikiforov. _

“He flew all the way from Russia to come see you, Yuuri.” Phichit voice was soft, but forceful, cutting through the negative static of Yuuri’s thoughts.

Yuuri felt tears falling down his cheeks. “I… I know that. I just feel… like I’m not good enough.”

“Why don’t you let Victor be the judge of that?”

“I… I’ll try. Help me up, Phichit?”

Phichit nodded as he stood. He offered Yuuri his hand and pulled him to his feet slowly. He patted Yuuri’s shoulder and said, “Good luck.”

Yuuri took a deep breath and started walking towards Victor.  _ I can do this.  _

“Victor?” __

Victor looked up at him. His eyes were red and puffy from crying. Tears still travelled down his cheeks. He wiped his eyes hastily with his sleeve as he stood. “Yuuri! Are you all right?”

Yuuri flinched.  _ I caused him this much pain, this much worry, and his first thought is to ask if I’m all right? Maybe... Phichit is right.  _

Yuuri nodded slightly. “That… happens sometimes… I’ll be okay.”

Victor searched his face, trying to see if Yuuri was telling him the truth.  _ That… happens? Like it’s happened before? What causes it? Did I cause it? God, I bet I did. It was a bad idea to come here. But I had to. I have to know. _

Victor cleared his throat. “We need to talk.”

Yuuri nodded. “We do.”

“Is there somewhere private…?”

Yuuri nodded. “There’s a coffee shop up the street from here? At this time of day, it’s usually pretty dead. Just let me change out of my skates, and we can go.”

***

Thirty minutes later

Yuuri sat across the table from Victor, nervously clutching his cup of green tea. Victor sipped his coffee, trying to be patient as he waited for Yuuri to speak first. 

Yuuri cleared his throat. “So… the banquet?”

Victor smiled. “The banquet. I have pictures… if you think that will make it easier?”

Yuuri nodded a little and scooted his chair closer to Victor. “I… I’m sorry. I really don’t remember anything. And earlier you said that you gave me your number?”

Victor nodded as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Yes, I put it in your contacts myself. If I had realized that you were that drunk, I would have texted myself. That way I would have had your number, too.”

Yuuri’s eyes were wide in disbelief. He pulled out his phone and opened his contacts. He scrolled down to the V’s and saw it: Victor Nikiforov ❤️. Yuuri stammered out, “I’m… Oh my God, I’m so sorry! I just… I never check my contact list… there’s never any reason to… but then again if I had seen this I would have thought it was some kind of joke that Phichit was playing on me… Oh God…”

“Yuuri. Yuuri, it’s okay! Really! There was no way for you to know. I’m sorry, too.” He sighed and looked Yuuri in the eyes. “I had no idea that you might wake up the next morning with no memory of what happened. I thought that you would call me, that we would figure out our next step after Nationals.”

He placed his hand over Yuuri’s, searching Yuuri’s face for his reaction. When he didn’t flinch, or try to pull away, Victor gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “I want us to be together, to at least give it a try. We’re soulmates.”

Yuuri nodded. “Soulmates…” The word felt strange on his tongue. He felt light-headed, but not like he was going to faint. He felt like this was a dream, and he was trying to not wake up.

_ But it’s not a dream… I have the bruised tailbone to prove it. _

_ Victor Nikiforov is really sitting here in front of me. He’s really my soulmate. And he  _ **_wants_ ** _ me. He wants to get to know me. To be with me? This is… it’s almost surreal… _

Yuuri felt tears fall down his cheeks. Victor gasped and cupped Yuuri’s face in his hands, wiping the tears away. “Don’t cry, Yuuri. Please don’t cry.”  _ Is that it, then? Does the idea of being with me sadden him that much? _

“I’m s… sorry…this just… it’s like… I’ve dreamed…” Yuuri struggled to get out words between his sobbing. “I’ve always… wanted to… wished for…”

Victor resisted the urge to pull Yuuri into his arms.  _ I don’t know if he wants that.  _ **_I_ ** _ want that, but what if this is his way of saying goodbye? I don’t think it is… despite his tears, he seems happy. _

Yuuri let out a little choked laugh as he struggled to regain his composure. “I’m a… well, you’ve seen it already. I’m a mess. Are you sure?”

Victor felt tears come to his eyes.  _ He thinks I don’t want him? No, it’s worse than that. He thinks I  _ **_shouldn’t_ ** _ want him. Poor Yuuri… what happened to you to make you like this? _

He used the pads of his thumb to gently wipe away the tears that still clung to Yuuri’s eyelashes. “I’m sure that we’re soulmates. I saw your eye change the first time we touched. I’m sure that if we don’t give this a try that we’ll both regret it. And I’m sure… I’m sure that when I thought that you didn’t want to be with me, I was devastated.”

Victor took a deep breath. “So yes, I’m sure.”

Yuuri closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, attempting to find his center. He opened his eyes and looked straight at Victor. He felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest.  _ This is crazy. Absolutely mad. I can’t… I can’t just do this, right? But… _

_ We’re soulmates. And he won’t leave Russia. I wouldn’t ask him to. He’s trained with Coach Feltsman for literally his whole career. So…  _

“How long will it take to move me to Russia?”

Victor’s eyes lit up with joy. He leaped from his chair straight into Yuuri’s arms. Yuuri laughed as he caught Victor, wrapping his arms around him. Victor caught his lips in a deep, passionate kiss. As they pulled away, Victor whispered, “We can be on a plane tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and for all of the kind comments! I'm glad that I was able to give this soulmate AU a nice, happy ending!

**Author's Note:**

> Looking for a cool place to talk about all things Yuri on Ice? Are you over 18? Join us on the 18!!! On ICE Discord server! [Invite here!](https://discord.gg/TYMxcAB)


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